Chapter 11: One Big Hiccup
Angel: 5 ½
One early morning, Angel zipped out of her room with the energy of lightning. She looked up at the fridge and saw her favorite cereal. She was about to fly up to go get it until she heard someone's throat clearing.
"Angel...What did we talk about?" She turned to see it was just her father. She pouted
"Brush your teeth before eating…" Angel whimpered. Barley smiled at her. She was as sweet as sugar at times.
"Okay...I'll let you slide one time...But after you eat, brush your teeth okay…"
Angel nodded her head and flew to get her favorite cereal. She flew around the cupboards to find a bowl and a spoon and she landed on the floor and grabbed the milk and she flew on the counter stop and she looked out the window as she chowed down on her cereal.
"Sunny skies, doing spells, there's nothing that can stop me today…" Angel thought.
Barley noticed that his daughter was really bouncy today.
"Energetic today aren't we princess…" Barley told Angel
"Today's a good day for me to practice spells today…" Angel beamed as she continued to wolf her cereal.
"Woah Woah, easy on the cereal…"
"I'll be okay…"
"Okay sweetheart, I know you're excited today...but you should slow down a little...I don't want to choke on your cereal…"
Then Angel downed the leftover milk in her bowl and placed it in the sink and raced upstairs to brush her teeth. Barley chuckled and shook his head
"What am I going to do with her…"
As Angel brushed her teeth she hummed a song. She rinsed her mouth and spit in the sink. As she checked her teeth, a small hiccup escaped her mouth. She covered it quickly. She shrugged her shoulders and left the bathroom.
She skipped down the stairs and another hiccup came out.
"Everything okay up there Angel?" Barley asked her
"Uh *hiccup* Huh," Angel said
"Was that a hiccup?"
"Nuh-uh…" Angel denied. She flew quickly to her room to get dressed.
Angel stepped out in a simple white t-shirt, denim shorts, and red rain boots. She marched proudly and she grabbed her staff and marched into the backyard
She placed a beach ball in front of her, held her staff in position, and said the words
"Aloft, Eleva-" but a hiccup stopped her from finishing and the spell went wrong, instead of lifting the ball, the ball flew straight in the air and then sank back down to the ground
Angel scratched her hair, which was in a side part and shoulder length. She decided to try something else
She pointed her staff in the air and shouted the words
"Boom Basti-" another hiccup came and the spell didn't work and the fireworks almost bust the satellite on the house.
"Angel, what are you doing?" Ian asked her aggravated.
"I'm *hiccup* Practicing*hiccup* spells" Angel called back
Angel marched to a flower that was soon to bloom and she smiled
"Magnora Gantu-" then that hiccup, made Angel shrunk the flower. Then Barley came outside followed by Ian
"Princess, what is going on-? But before Barley could finish his sentence, Angel got startled and pointed her staff to them. Then a few hiccups came after.
"Not again…" a squeaky voice said. Angel looked around frantically
"Who said that?"
"Down here Angel…" another squeaky voice said
Angel jumped and looked at what used to be father and uncle who are now small.
"What happened…" Angel got down on her knees.
"You shrank us…" Ian said. "So...This is what it's like to be small"
"Welcome to my world" Barley replied. Angel began to hiccup again
"How *hiccup* did *hiccup* this *hiccup* happen?"
"Remember sweetie, When you mess up a spell, there are consequences…" Barley reminded Angel
"It was those hiccups you had…" Ian pointed out. Angel then hiccuped
"AHA, I knew you had something...I knew you were hiding something...You see why Daddy follows his gut…"
Angel hiccuped sadly
"I told you to slow down on your food, it'll give you hiccups and I would know…" Barley lectured
Angel's eyes started to tear up. "I messed this up...Now I'm going to have a tiny Daddy
"Whoa Whoa, Hey hey….Don't cry…" Barley spoke, trying to calm his distressed daughter.
Then a large teardrop landed on the grassy plain Ian and Barley were standing on. They luckily got out of the way before it washed them away
"Angel, it's okay...Stop crying" Ian called to his sobbing niece as more tears slipped down her cheeks and onto the ground
"I got this…" Barley climbed onto her boot and made his way to her shorts and climbed onto her shirt
"Hey hey, Princess," Barley called. Angel stopped crying and saw her father on her shirt
"There we are, dry those tears…" Barley comforted. Angel then wiped her eyes and a small hiccup came as she sniffled
"We can figure this out, sweetie…" Barley said, stroking her cheek with his small hand
"Yeah...At least we're at home...and not stuck in the middle of nowhere…"
"Maybe*hiccup* I can try the spell again to grow you guys back…" Angel suggested
"I don't think so, Angel...You can't do a spell twice if you mess up on the first try…" Ian said
Angel sighed as this dashed her hopes. "How long did the spell last if you mess up?"
"Uh...I think it lasted around an hour or so…" Barley thought out loud
"What are we going to do until then…"
"It'll give us plenty of time to figure out how to get rid of your hiccup…" Ian replied
Then hiccups came in a pattern out of Angel's mouth.
"Could you give us a hand, baby girl…" Barley asked his daughter. Angel picked up both Ian and Barley and took her inside the house
The house looked much larger in Ian and Barley's perspective. Even Barley's figurines. She sets them down at the dining room table
"Okay, try to drink some water…" Ian told his niece. Angel flew over to the fridge and grabbed a cup and drank the water. She waited a few seconds before and then a hiccup came out
"Maybe there's an ice cube in the freezer…" Angel tried the method and still, the hiccups came.
Angel sighed and hand her hands on her cheeks, slumping on the ground.
The brothers both slumped, thinking about what to do to wait to grow at their normal size. Then an idea strikes Barley's head
"Hey, Angel...Wanna play Captain of the Seas…" Then Angel sprouted up from her spot
"Yeah yeah yeah….I finally have crewmates…" Ian turned to Barley
"It's a game she plays, We can ride her boats…" Barley explains.
Angel ran into her room and searched around for one of her paper boats. She found the perfect one. It was colored in red, purple, pink, and yellow and had macaroni all over it.
"I'm *hiccup* back…" Angel called
" Oh good…" Ian sighed. Angel grabbed the cauldron on the stove, poured out mushroom soup, and placed water in the pot. She grabbed a large spoon and check on the pot which was full of water. She flew the cauldron on the stove and brought the boat, with the boys inside and the spoon
"Okay, You're gonna love this Ian…" Barley said, holding onto the boat
"Okay...The captain and his crew are entering the treacherous waters...of the seven seas" Angel spoke in a medieval voice. She stirred the cauldron viciously and the boys had a bit of a rocky ride on the boy
"Ooh, Must be a tropical storm up ahead First mate Ian…" Barley spoke
"I'm not your first mate...I think I'm gonna be sick…" Ian said covering his mouth.
"Hold on...the waters are *hiccup* getting clearer, you're getting back onto land-"
Then She heard barking and keys jingling. Laurel just got home from walking Blazey.
The scaly dragon burst inside of the house with such speed, it scared Angel who was holding the cauldron, lost her balance, and fell on the floor taking the cauldron with her. The boys screamed, they luckily were washed away to a wall, meanwhile, Angel had the cauldron on her head
"Daddy...Uncle Ian...Gramma…" Angel frantically yelled. Laurel rushed to her granddaughter and tried to yank the cauldron off of Angel but to no avail.
"Angel...Baby girl…" Ian nudged Barley, finding Angel with the cauldron on her head.
"Ugh, it's stuck…" Laurel found the spoon and looked around and saw the water. She turned back to Angel, who gave a small hiccup
"Captain of the Seas…." Laurel asked with her. Angel nodded her head.
"I'll go get the oil...Don't go anywhere…" Laurel went off to go get it and tiny Barley and Ian rushed to Angel, who was still trying to yank the pot off of her.
"Angel, Are you okay…" Barley asked. Angel hiccuped. Barley looked around and saw the spoon, which was nearby the sleeping Blazey. Barley luckily tiptoed towards the spoon, grabbed it, and ran off to his daughter without waking Blazey.
"Okay...Don't move okay...Barley told Angel. Barley was preparing to swing
"Barley…" Ian Said worriedly
Then Barley swung the spoon as hard as he can to the cauldron, making out the sound to Angel. It truly scared her and then no hiccups came
"My hiccups are gone...My hiccups are gone…" Angel celebrated
"That's good"
"Barley…" Ian yelled pointing up
Barley turned around and saw his mother looking down at him in distraught and in shock
"How...Did you boys...Get like that?" Laurel asked
Barley and Ian pointed to Angel, who sheepishly giggled.
"Okay, I got the oil, stand back…" Laurel told the boys. She lathered the oil on Angel's neck and pulled as hard as she could. After a few seconds, Angel was free.
"Woohoo, I'm free" Angel cheered.
"Ugh, tr not to get that stuck on your head anymore Ang…"
"Yeah you shouldn't-" Before Barley could finish, his large hand grew back.
"What happening," Angel asked, getting scared
"I think the spells wearing off" Ian warns her. Then the boys start to slowly grow back to their normal size. Barley almost crushed his daughter in the process.
When the boys' transformation is complete, the stunned girl looked at them. Then Blazey started to hiccup. Everyone turned to her
"Dragons get hiccups?" Angel asked.